4 days later

The worst part of the deployment process, to me, is the in between.

Typically, you fly out of your home base, probably have a layover somewhere, then fly to a naval base, or army base, then fly to your port call, then fly out of the country.

And from there, you might stop in 1,2,3,4, or even 5 countries in between, picking up others who are deploying or pcsing, and dropping the other’s off!

And whats more, your countdown can’t even start until you sign into your deployment base.

Ughhhhh.

Luckily, my husband only has 1 stop in between this time. Last time he went, he stopped in Ireland, Italy, Germany, Bahrain, and somewhere in Africa before flying into Iraq.
But, also, last time, he deployed with the army!

So this time, should be a lot better, for all of us.

Isabela is doing well. She doesn’t understand, although I tried my best to explain things to her. She has asked for daddy once or twice, and then she will say right after, “daddy bye bye. daddy coming?”

And then I will try to re-explain while giving hugs and kisses and loves. Luckily, I don’t work, so Isabela is very used to spending all day with me. I think if Chris and I both worked and she came home to both of us at the same time, it would be a lot harder on her.

However, I know she is starting to experience some emotions, and she doesn’t know what they are, how to deal with them, and how to communicate them. This has resulted in meltdowns from the tiniest things, a lot of night wakings, and even further regression with potty training.

Already. I am SO thankful for technology. We have so many videos we recorded of her and Chris, books with his voice recorded into it, pictures, etc.

Last night, we were able to video chat, and Isabela was happy, but not really paying Chris any attention. BUT, as soon as we closed out our chat, Isabela said in the saddest voice, “mommy!”, and started crying, so I called him back really quick, and let them say love you’s and miss you’s and bye byes. I think it helped significantly, as she seemed a lot happier afterwards.

Today, we are going to keep with our plan of waking up early, early morning cartoons, playtime outside, art and crafts time, dance time, and maybe some park time before nap time. And we are gonna try and stay really busy, so little girl can be in bed early again tonight.

One thing I was a little fearful of was night times. I thought, as soon as Isabela goes to sleep, I would feel so immensely lonely and sad and would be unable to sleep. But lately, as soon as night time comes around, I’m SO exhausted. All I can think about is closing my eyes and re-energizing for the next day!

And I have felt such a peace in my heart. I feel all of your prayers, and I know my friend, Mandy, as been specifically praying for peace, and God has answered her prayers!

This past couple of days has been exhausting, but its been better than I thought. I am so thankful I have my sweet tiny tot to keep me company, make me giggle, and bring out the joy in me!

More to come later!